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Craft Brewing And Distilling News for January 11, 2013

•Redlands, California-based craft brewer Hangar 24 is adding a wine grape-infused beer to its Local Fields series. Set to debut on January 19, Vinaceous is billed as an old English ale blended with Mourvedre red wine grapes from Temecula’s Wilson Creek Winery. The 8.7%-abv brew will be available on draft and in 22-ounce bottles at the Hangar 24 tasting room, as well as select on- and off-premise locations throughout California. Launched last year, Hangar 24’s Local Fields series features seasonal offerings that are each made with a different local ingredient, such as dates, blood oranges, apricots and pumpkins, and produced once a year.

•Winston-Salem, North Carolina-based Foothills Brewing has signed a number of new distribution agreements to expand the brand’s footprint across the state. New distribution partners include Mims Distributing Co. (covering the Triangle region), Caffey Distributing Co. (Triad), Coastal Beverage (Coastal region) and Healy Wholesale Co. (Fayetteville). Foothills also expanded its existing partnerships with United Beverages of North Carolina (Boone, Hickory, Lake Norman and Mooresville) and Carolina Premium Beverage (Charlotte). Foothills produces over 20 seasonal and year-round beers. The company relocated a year ago from their downtown Winston-Salem brewery to a 50,000-square-foot facility to focus on bottling and six-pack distribution, and will add new tanks this spring and summer to boost production.